Op-Ed: Gilad Atzmon wipes Israel off the map

London
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The Board of Deputies of British Jews claims to have had a complaint against Gilad Atzmon upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority. Naturally, the renegade saxophonist sees things rather differently.

Oy gevalt, that Atzmon is driving us crazy, if only he would stick to playing his saxophone and not interfere in little matters like Operation Cast Lead and the Flotilla Massacre. And how dare he write a book called The Wandering Who?

The problem with Atzmon is, well, there are several problems actually. He is not only a Jew and an Israeli but has a Masters Degree in Philosophy. He has also done his homework, although he appears to have a rather starry-eyed view of Britain as a nation that embraces freedom of expression. This is after all the country in which a woman was convicted of calling another woman a coconut, and where at the moment the morons and petty tyrants who control the Clown Prosecution Service have charged a woman with putting a golliwog in her own window, and a foul mouthed overpaid football player with using a racial expletive to another overpaid football player, an offence that required a telephoto lens and the services of a professional lip reader to frame.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews claimed/boasted - how about a nice neutral word for a change? - said, that the Advertising Standards Authority had upheld a complaint against Palestinian Mission UK recently concerning the content of its website, in particular some articles by Mr Atzmon.

The Palestinian Mission's compliance is interesting to say the least. After all, it could have told the ASA to get stuffed, instead it has bowed to what may be seen as an act of censorship, or it may be that the Palestinians realised long ago that their best weapon in their campaign for justice is diplomacy. This is a lesson Organised Jewry has yet to learn.

Since the current troubles started in the Middle East if not considerably before that, they have relied on pulling wires behind the scenes, financial pressure on the press, smears against anti-Semites - real and imagined - and at times naked tyranny. The problem is that doesn't work anymore, and the reason is there is such widespread opposition to Zionist Imperialism and Western complicity in it that calling people names is not enough.

Atzmon may be one of the most embarrassing voices in this new discourse but he is by no means the first. In the United States, the academic Norman Finkelstein has been a thorn in the side of the Jewish establishment for years. There are many others, including organisations, and their voices are growing louder, and they are being heard and noticed, though apparently not by David Duke.

Atzmon's act of wiping Israel off the map was of course a mirror image of what has actually happened since 1948; it is Palestine that has been wiped off the map, and continues to be in spite of the mounting international pressure.

There was though an incident a few years ago of which all the usual suspects made a great deal, and which establishment politicians parroted compliantly, this was the claim that the President of Iran had threatened to wipe Israel off the map, and of course we must prevent this by bombing Tehran and perhaps even wiping Iran off the map.

This fabrication has been refuted, debunked and trashed countless times including by a Guardiancolumnist 5 years ago, that being one newspaper that appears to be trusted by the Board of Deputies. Even so, it was given spurious credence in a recent smear article on Gilad Atzmon, among others, by Jamie Slavin writing on a blog for, surprise, surprise, the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Slavin is no rank and file Zionist though, he is the Board's Public Affairs Officer. Perhaps someone should report him to the ASA? Or perhaps no one takes seriously anything he and his ilk have to say anymore, a thought that obviously terrifies the leaders of political Zionism more than the anti-Semites they find under every bed.

This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com